How to depolarise the ethical debate over human embryonic stem cell research (and other ethical debates too!)

Espinoza, Nicolás; Peterson, Martin

doi:10.1136/medethics-2011-100099

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Recent advances in stem cell research not only improved the understanding of basic development processes but also provided promising opportunities for the use of stem cells in biotechnological, pharmaceutical, cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering applications 18 19 20 . While pluripotent ESCs isolated from early embryos are the most promising, they face technical challenges and ethical dilemmas 21 22 23 . Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from adult cells provide an alternative, but they too face similar technical and safety problems 23 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation and Characterization of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells from Human Umbilical Cord and Fetal Placenta

Beeravolu

McKee

Alamri

et al. 2017

JoVE

109

106

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The human umbilical cord (UC) and placenta are non-invasive, primitive and abundant sources of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) that have increasingly gained attention because they do not pose any ethical or moral concerns. Current methods to isolate MSCs from UC yield low amounts of cells with variable proliferation potentials. Since UC is an anatomically-complex organ, differences in MSC properties may be due to the differences in the anatomical regions of their isolation. In this study, we first dissected the cord/placenta samples into three discrete anatomical regions: UC, cord-placenta junction (CPJ), and fetal placenta (FP). Second, two distinct zones, cord lining (CL) and Wharton's jelly (WJ), were separated. The explant culture technique was then used to isolate cells from the four sources. The time required for the primary culture of cells from the explants varied depending on the source of the tissue. Outgrowth of the cells occurred within 3 - 4 days of the CPJ explants, whereas growth was observed after 7 - 10 days and 11 - 14 days from CL/WJ and FP explants, respectively. The isolated cells were adherent to plastic and displayed fibroblastoid morphology and surface markers, such as CD29, CD44, CD73, CD90, and CD105, similarly to bone marrow (BM)-derived MSCs. However, the colony-forming efficiency of the cells varied, with CPJ-MSCs and WJ-MSCs showing higher efficiency than BM-MSCs. MSCs from all four sources differentiated into adipogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic lineages, indicating that they were multipotent. CPJ-MSCs differentiated more efficiently in comparison to other MSC sources. These results suggest that the CPJ is the most potent anatomical region and yields a higher number of cells, with greater proliferation and self-renewal capacities in vitro. In conclusion, the comparative analysis of the MSCs from the four sources indicated that CPJ is a more promising source of MSCs for cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation and Characterization of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells from Human Umbilical Cord and Fetal Placenta

Beeravolu

McKee

Alamri

et al. 2017

JoVE

109

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, the isolation of ESCs involves destruction or manipulation of the preimplantation stage embryo. Therefore, ethical and moral concerns have hindered further development of ESCs based therapies (Espinoza and Peterson, 2012;Lo and Parham, 2009;Pera, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human umbilical cord derivatives regenerate intervertebral disc

Beeravolu

Brougham

Khan

et al. 2017

J Tissue Eng Regen Med

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Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is characterized by the loss of nucleus pulposus (NP), which is a common cause for lower back pain. Although, currently, there is no cure for the degenerative disc disease, stem cell therapy is increasingly being considered for its treatment. In this study, we investigated the feasibility and efficacy of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and chondroprogenitor cells (CPCs) derived from those cells to regenerate damaged IVD in a rabbit model. Transplanted cells survived, engrafted and dispersed into NP in situ. Significant improvement in the histology, cellularity, extracellular matrix proteins, and water and glycosaminoglycan contents in IVD recipients of CPCs was observed compared to MSCs. In addition, IVDs receiving CPCs exhibited higher expression of NP-specific human markers, SOX9, aggrecan, collagen 2, FOXF1 and KRT19. The novelty of the study is that in vitro differentiated CPCs derived from umbilical cord MSCs, demonstrated far greater capacity to regenerate damaged IVDs, which provides basis and impetus for stem cell based clinical studies to treat degenerative disc disease.

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“…MSCs have become the most utilized form of stem cell for developing cartilage repair treatments due to their lack of ethical concerns, relative ease of harvesting from tissues such as bone marrow and adipose tissue, and their ability to differentiate into chondrocytes. A number of systems have been developed to make use of bone marrow to provide a concentrated source of MSCs in point‐of‐care devices designed for single‐stage procedures .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying the optimum source of mesenchymal stem cells for use in knee surgery

et al. 2017

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Single sitting procedures where the mononuclear cell fraction is extracted from bone marrow and implanted directly into cartilage and bone defects are becoming more popular as novel treatments for cartilage defects which have, until now had few treatment options. This is on the basis that the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) contained within will repair the damaged tissue. This study sought to determine if the femur and tibia could provide equivalent amounts of mesenchymal stem cells, with equivalent viability and proliferative capacity, to that obtained from the gold standard of the pelvis in order to potentially reduce the morbidity associated with these procedures. Bone marrow was extracted from the pelvis, femur, and tibia of human subjects. The mononuclear cell fraction was extracted and cultured in the laboratory. Mesenchymal stem cell populations were assessed using a colony forming unit count. Viability was assessed using a PrestoBlue viability assay. Population doubling number was calculated between the end of passage 0 and passage three to determine the proliferative abilities of the different populations. Finally, the cell surface phenotype of the cells was determined by flow cytometry. The results showed that the pelvis was superior to the femur and tibia in terms of the number of stem cells isolated. There was no statistically significant difference in the phenotype of the cells isolated from different locations. This work shows that when undertaking single sitting procedures, the pelvis remains the optimum source for obtaining MSCs, despite the morbidity associated with bone marrow collection from the pelvis. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:1868-1875, 2017.

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How to depolarise the ethical debate over human embryonic stem cell research (and other ethical debates too!)

Cited by 14 publications

References 10 publications

Isolation and Characterization of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells from Human Umbilical Cord and Fetal Placenta

Isolation and Characterization of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells from Human Umbilical Cord and Fetal Placenta

Human umbilical cord derivatives regenerate intervertebral disc

Identifying the optimum source of mesenchymal stem cells for use in knee surgery

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